Multiple sheet dispenser and method of using



June 6, 1967 P. A. H. PANKOW MULTIPLE SHEET DISPENSER AND METHOD OF USING Filed Dec. 8, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VE N TOR. PAUZ ,4//PA/v/(0n/ June 6, 1967 P. A. H. PANKOW 3,323,790

MULTIPLE SHEET DISPENSER AND'METHOD OF USING Filed Dec. 8, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet- 2 FIG. 3

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MULTIPLE SHEET DISPENSER AND METHOD OF USING Filed Dec. 8, 1964 5 sheets-sheet INVENTOR.

5A (/4 AmQqA/Aon/ United States Patent 3,323,790 MULTIPLE SHEET DISPENSER AND METI-IQI) OF USING Paul A. H. Pankow, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St.

Paul, Mind, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 8, 1964, Ser. No. 416,852 4 Claims. (Cl. 27058) This invention relates to the dispensing of paper or paper-like sheet materials, or more particularly to storage and dispenser apparatus for use therein. The apparatus makes possible the rapid and convenient assembling of two or three sheets of paper in a couplet or sandwichlike pack. In one aspect, the invention contemplates novel apparatus for storing a quantity of each of two sensitive copy-paper sheet materials of which one is light-sensitive, and for assembling such sheets either in a two-sheet couplet or, in sandwich form, on either side of a printed sheet serving as a graphic original of which a copy is desired. The apparatus is particularly useful in the preparation of copies of printed originals by the method and with the sensitized sheet materials described in Workman US. Patent No. 3,094,417.

A typical copying procedure involving the process and materials of the Workman patent includes a number of steps. A thin fibrous light-sensitive intermediate sheet material is first placed in face-to-face contact with the printed original. The original is next exposed to light through the intermediate, the light-sensitive coating of which is thereby desensitized, completely at unprinted areas but only partially at the printed image areas of the original. The sheet is then separated from the original and placed in face-to-face contact with a receptor or copy sheet. Heating the two-sheet couplet then causes an imageforming reaction to occur between the coated copy-sheet and the residual sensitive material of the intermediate, the latter sheet then being removed and discarded.

The process is greatly simplified and speeded up by the use of the apparatus of the present invention, and which will now be described with reference to the appended drawings. in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of the dispenser,

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view showing the upper dispensing area, with the cover removed,

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the lower dispensing mechanism, with the supporting base removed,

FIGURE 4 is a partial central sectional elevation taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional elevation taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 6 is a partial side elevation, partly in section, showing the detail of latching mechanism, and

FIGURE 7 is a partial front elevation, partly in section, of a paper-retaining clamp member.

The dispenser 10 includes an open top base 11 supported on resilient pads 12 and supporting a cover 13. A central divider 18 terminating in an upwardly slanting forward shelf 14 and supporting paper drive mechanism actuated by a manually reciprocated forwardly extending push rod 15 covers the base 11 and separates the base and cover 13, forming an upper and a lower paper storage compartment, and itself providing a central sheet-receiving compartment of which a portion of the bottom panel 16 may be seen in FIGURE 1. The rod 15 is provided With a terminal thumbpiece 17 having a sloping pressure face for assuring downward as well as rearward thrust and providing for secure anchorage of the apparatus on the table or desk top. The divider 18 is attached to the base 11 by hinge 19, the base and cover are held together by hinges 20, as shown in FIGURE 2.

Patented June 6, 1967 The upper surface of the divider serves as a storage tray for receptor or copy sheets which are placed upon the panel 21 and beneath the feeder assembly 22. Side walls 23 and end wall 24 position the sheets, which are further lightly frictionally retained by edge contact with sections 25 of resilient plastic tubing adherently bonded within and extending from appropriate niches in the walls 23. At one side of the upper surface a forward guide 26 and central guide 27 provide sliding support for the push rod 15. A clip 28 at the rear end of the rod slides within a channel defined by low walls 29 and serves to provide attachment for one end of a tension spring 36 which passes freely through guide 27 and is attached at its other end to a trigger member 54 pivoted within the guide 26. The rod 15 has afiixed thereto the upper feeder assembly 22 through its supporting arm 31 and a lower feeder assembly 32 through its supporting arm 33, the feeder assemblies thereby being capable of unrestricted and essentially vertical movement throughout the range of the thickness of a stack of copy-sheets.

As seen from the bottom in FIGURE 3, the lower panel 37 of the divider 18 carries a rearward leaf spring 34 and a forward hinged flap 35, the latter having downwardly turned rearward terminal extensions 36. The feeder 32 lies beneath but may be raised into contact With the bottom panel.

The upper panel 21 and lower panel 37 of the divider 18 enclose an open-front shallow pocket area 38 having a rear wall 39, as shown in section in FIGURE 4, and side walls'4ti shown in FIGURE 5. This pocket is designed to receive a graphic original against which is simultaneously to be placed a photosensitive intermediate sheet from the lower compartment and a receptor sheet from the upper compartment. The forward upturned lip extension of the base 11 and the extension 14 of the bottom panel 37 are centrally arcuately cut away, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, to permit of grasping and removing such a three-sheet composite. The rear wall 39 serves as a stop for the inserted original and is so located that the rear edges of the three sheets are in alignment, i.e. the sheets are in congruency or registery, when in forward position and ready for removal from the dispenser.

Unlike the relatively stiff receptor sheets, the photosensitive intermediate sheets are of very thin and comparatively flimsy semi-transparent paper. The stack of sheets is laid over supporting ridges 59 in the position indicated by the dotted line 60 in FIGURE 5, the resulting drape imparting a slight but significant stiffening to the sheets as they are advanced from storage and into position with the overlying graphic original.

The thin intermediate sheets are retained within the area of the base 11 bounded by side walls 41 and end wall 42 by a spring-and-needle retainer mechanism 43. Two needles 44 are afiixed in a vertically movable plunger 45 suspended on a compression spring 46 within a channellike frame 47, the whole being clamped to the rear wall 42 and in line with the spring 34 from the divider 18. The needles penetrate the top few of the photosensitive intermediate sheets near the edge and retain the underlying sheets while permitting removal of the topmost sheet, under the forces imparted by the feed mechanism 32, through inconsequential edge tearing of the paper.

Due to the slight additional travel required of the intermediate sheets along the upwardly extended front surface of the base 11, the lower rear wall 42 is positioned slightly forwardly of the position of the upper rear wall 24 so that the two sheets may come into registry with the original and with each other.

The two paper feed assemblies are identical as to es- 3 sential structure and mode of operation. The top feeder assembly 22 consists of a weighted frame 48 having a rectangular central opening within which is pivotally mounted a sub-frame 49 carrying a pair of rollers 50 mounted on a floating axle 51 supported in horizontally elongate openings in the turned-down ends of the frame as shown by broken lines in FIGURE 4. The reaward edge of the frame 49 is turned down to serve as a unidirectional braking device, the sharp edge making contact with, and preventing rotation of, the rollers as the feeder moves in a forwardly or paper-feeding direction. Moving the feeder in the opposite or rearward direction permits the axle to move to the center of the frame 49 thereby releasing and permitting free rotation of the rollers.

The upper paper feed assembly weighs about 200 grams; the lower, about 120 grams. The rollers are each one-half inch in diameter and three-eighths inch in length and are made of a soft gum rubber composition of about 30 durometer. They are preferably provided with a uniformly serrated surface. These dimensions are appropriate for the feeding of paper receptor sheets and intermediate sheets as hereinbefore described.

Prolonged contact of the rubber rollers with the photosensitive intermediate sheets is found to desensitize or otherwise impair the effectiveness of such sheets. The lower feed assembly is therefore provided with a locking device for supporting the assembly, when not in use, against or adjacent the bottom panel 37 of the divider. A rotatable disc 52 mounted on the support arm 33 contacts an offset cam 53 depending from the divider 18 adjacent the forward support 26 as the road 15 and feeders 22 and 32 are brought forward, causing the lower feeder 32 to be raised above the stack of photosensitive sheets and toward the lower panel 37 as most clearly illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 5.

FIGURE 6 illustrates a trigger 54 as suspended from a pivot 55 within the forward guide 26. The return spring 30 for the push rod 15 is attached to an upper lug 56 of the trigger; a lower lug 57 slidably contacts the leading edge of the lower support arm 33 as the latter is brought to its forwardmost position, thereby raising a forward extension 58 contacting the flap extension 36 and permitting the flap 35 to descend into the position shown in FIGURE 6, to close the open forward end of the lower paper storage compartment and protect the enclosed photosensitive intermediate sheets from exposure to light.

What is claimed is as follows:

7 1. Apparatus suitable for simultaneously dispensing two separate copy-sheets against opposite sides of, and in registry with, a graphic original which is to be copied, said apparatus comprising a base, a cover, and an intervening hollow divider, the three being hingedly interconnected at a rearward edge and when in close position providing one each upper, central, and lower pockets for sheet materials, said upper and central pockets being permanently open at the forward edge, said lower pocket having across the forward edge an openable shutter; an upper paper feed mechanism and a lower paper feed mechanism each adapted for frictionally urging an uppermost copysheet, of a stack of copy-sheets supported beneath the said mechanism, in an exclusively forward direction on longitudinal reciprocation of the said mechanism; a push rod attached to the paper feed mechanisms for manual reciprocation thereof, and spring means for biasing said rod toward its forwardmost position; paper retaining means for retaining all but the uppermost sheet of a stack of sheets in each of said upper and lower pockets; and cam means for raising said lower paper feed mechanism, and lever means for permitting closing of said shutter, as said push rod reaches its forwardmost position.

2. Paper-dispensing apparatus comprising a lower opentop storage tray and a hollowilat cover therefor providing an upper storage tray and an intervening shallow paper-receiving pocket; 3, push rod along one side of said cover supported for manual lengthwise reciprocation; an upper paper feed mechanism, carried by said rod, for urging an uppermost sheet of paper from a stack of paper in said upper tray solely in a forward direction, and a lower paper feed mechanism, carried by said rod, for urging an uppermost sheet of paper from a stack of paper in said lower tray solely in a forward direction, on reciprocation of said rod, each said mechanism being freely arcuately movable around said rod; a closure flap and associated trigger means for closing the forward opening between said lower tray and said cover on moving said rod to its forwardmost position; and cam means for raising said lower feed mechanism toward the lower surface of said cover on moving said rod to its forwardmost position; each of said lower tray, upper tray, and intervening pocket having a rearward stop member against which to position the inner edge of sheets of paper inserted therein, the stop members being positioned to provide registry of sheets on completion of a reciprocation of the feed mechanism.

3. Apparatus for simultaneously dispensing a single heavy weight image receptor copy-sheet from a stack of such copy-sheets and in face-to-back contact with an upper surface of a printed original, and a single photosensitive light weight intermediate copy-sheet from a stack of such copy-sheets and in face-to-face contact with the printed lower surface of said original, said apparatus comprising: a base having a sloping forward lip and opposing oif-center longitudinal ridge areas for supporting a stack of intermediate copy-sheets in doubly bowed configuration and in position for being individually dispensed across said lip, said base including a rearward wall serving as a stop for the rearward edge of a said stack and, just forwardly of said wall, a sheet-retaining probe including needle means for perforating a top several sheets of a said stack immediately adjacent said rearward edge, said needle means being spring biased upwardly from said base to permit easy insertion of a said stack; a central hollow divider member having parallel closely spaced bottom and top panels defining a hollow forwardly open shallow pocketfor receiving a said original, said top panel carrying upwardly extending rear and side walls defining an upper forwardly open tray for receiving a stack of said receptor copy-sheets, the rear wall serving as a stop for the rearward edge of a said stack; a push rod mounted at one side of said divider member for reciprocating motion longitudinally of said dispenser and spring-biased toward a forwardly extending position; an upper paper feed mechanism, attached to said rod through an intervening support arm for free arcuate movement toward and away from said top panel and consequently for essentially vertical movement perpendicular to an uppermost sheet of a stack of image receptor copy-sheets supported on said panel, and including paper-advancing friction roller means and unidirectional brake means permitting free rotation of said roller means against a said uppermost sheet only when said mechanism is moved in a rearward direction; a lower paper feed mechanism attached to said rod through an intervening support arm for free arcuate movement toward and away from said bottom panel and consequently for free essentially vertical movement perpendicular to an uppermost sheet of a stack of intermediate copy-sheets supported on said base, and including paperadvancing friction roller means and unidirectional brake means permitting rotation of said roller means against a said uppermost sheet only when said mechanism is moved in a rearward direction; a cam member depending from said divider and a rotatable disc aifixed to the support arm of said lower paper feed mechanism for contacting said cam and thereby raising said mechanism toward said lower panel as said rod is retracted into its said forwardly extending position; an elongate flap member pivotally suspended beneath said bottom panel forwardly there-of, and a trigger member pivotally attached to said divider for contacting the lower support arm and the flap member for permitting said flap to be lowered across the opening between said divider and said base as said rod is retracted into its said forwardly extending position; and a cover member mating with said base to provide a forwardly open-sided enclosure for the storage areas and dispensing mechanisms.

4. The method of assembling a light Weight photosensitive intermediate copy-sheet, a graphic original, and a heavy weight image receptor copy-sheet, all being of essentially identical length and width, as a three-layer composite in making a copy of said original, comprising:

taneously and into registry with said original; and withdrawing all three sheets simultaneously and in sandwich form.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,167,214 1/1916 Peterson 22134 1,241,897 10/1917 Anason 221-34 1,370,660 3/ 1921 Marcuson 270-58 2,713,486 7/1955 Aydlett 22134 X 3,008,606 11/1961 Limberger 2213 4 X M. HENSON WOOD, 111., Primary Examiner.

ALLEN N. KNOWLES, Examiner. 

4. THE METHOD OF ASSEMBLING A LIGHT WEIGHT PHOTOSENSITIVE INTERMEDIATE COPY-SHEET, A GRAPHIC ORIGINAL, AND A HEAVY WEIGHT IMAGE RECEPTOR COPY-SHEET, ALL BEING OF ESSENTIALLY IDENTICAL LENGTH AND WIDTH, AS A THREE-LAYER COMPOSITE IN MAKING A COPY OF SAID ORIGINAL, COMPRISING: SUPPORTING A STACK OF RECEPTOR SHEETS ABOVE AND SPACED FROM A STACK OF INTERMEDIATE SHEETS; PLACING AN ORIGINAL BETWEEN SAID STACKS AND PARTIALLY FORWARD THEREOF; ADVANCING AN UPPERMOST SHEET FROM EACH SAID STACK SIMULTANEOUSLY AND INTO REGISTRY WITH SAID ORIGINAL; AND WITHDRAWING ALL THREE SHEETS SIMULTANEOUSLY AND IN SANDWICH FORM. 